Now that the proposal to re-number the addresses of the Cos Cob portion of the Post Road has been shelved, does anyone know the history of how those numbers came to being?
Or is it just one of those peculiar local oddities with no explanation?
As you drive along the Post Road – which is called West Putnam or East Putnam in Greenwich – the numbers are suddenly reversed all along the portion of town known as Cos Cob. Going west to east, the last building to have an even number appears to be 534 East Putnam Ave. The next building is the Landmark Diner, which has no discernible address, nor do the next five businesses. The first one with an address after that group is the People’s United Bank at 119 East Putnam Avenue. Then the addresses – when one is even apparent – stay odd all the way to the Mianus River after which they revert back to being even numbers.
Not that any of this matters. I have never used an address as reference on the Post Road. I know the landmarks – such as the CVS, or the Starbucks, or Cos Cob TV, or Fiord’s Fisheries – as every EMT operator should.
I moved to Greenwich – most of my time time has been was Cos Cob – I only heard U.S. Route 1 addresses referred to as Post Road or Boston Post Road. After becoming a volunteer in the Fire Service and then also the Ambulance Service one day I noticed a new brick building on the corner of U.S. 1 and Valleywood Rd with a sign proclaiming the address as “Valleywood Medical Center, 40 East Putnam Avenue”. I investigated as I knew that there was probably another 40 East Putnam Ave nearer Greenwich Avenue. I discovered that at the time the tax book and the reverse directories used either the Post Road or both. I asked the owner of Post Road Auto Parts (now the market across from #40) about this and he told me his deed read East Putnam Avenue.
Not very many people seemed to be concerned. Today as Computer Assited Dispatch has been implemented for the emergency services all of a sudden there is an issue. When the #40 sign appeared it would have been easy – make Rte 1 in Cos Cob officially Post Road with signs at every intersection that say so. Now it is more difficult. Short term the database for the dispatching system ought to be able to be programmed to handle the duplicities. In the long run changes need planning, relevent input from all affected, and a reasonable time frame for any changes. For Cos Cob – change the numbers or change the name* (officially). AND if dispatch to the right place, the first time, is truly the reason this all came up our long range planning needs to address duplicate (triplicate, quadruplicate, …) street names, duplicate street intersections (Butler St and Loughlin Av intersect in two places for example)and insuring that residents with alarm systems have given their alarm companies correct and sufficient information to give Greenwich Dispatch when they receive an alarm.
*my choice,it would help explain all the Old Post Road #Xes
Comment by Bob — May 19th, 2009 @ 8:14 pm